Essdee Fine Quality British Scraperboard is the standard of excellence in scraperboard, used by illustrators and professional artists around the world. This artist grade board is handmade with a heavy China clay coating on illustration board (heavy card) to ensure a hard, smooth, white coating which is then sprayed with a good coat of semi-glossy black India ink. A cutting tool engraves a line through the surface ink to expose the white beneath. Closely spaced lines produce textures and tones. This makes a white on black drawing that is very precise and can be used to create highly detailed, evenly textured, tonal artwork similar to engraving and very high in contrast. The fine detail allows perfect photographic reproduction. Scraperboard is unique and produces dramatic imagery unlike any other medium. The sheets of card are easy to maneuver on your drawing board as some artists turn the paper while they work. The thickness of the ink layer means the artist doesn't remove ink by accident with their fingertips as can happen with other makes of board. Thickness of the board is 12 pt (300 microns). It is also called scratchboard.